


Melody Pond and the Lost Decades of Memories

by savvyliterate



Series: Melody Pond [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-13 03:13:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/819303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvyliterate/pseuds/savvyliterate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mad man had fallen out of the sky and into Melody Pond's life. In hours, the once-orphan had her parents back, discovered that she was a part-Time Lord, and in an alternate universe had been married to said mad man. But, she still has a thesis to write, a novel to finish, and taxes to file. But just as she's starting to get the hang of her new life, someone she loves could cause it all to unravel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Melody Pond and the Lost Decades of Memories

_My name is Melody Pond._

_Two days ago, I found out that instead of being dead, my parents were lost in the past for about 20 years. And, in an alternate version of my life, I was married to a 1,103-year-old Time Lord. Oh, and that I’m part-Time Lord myself_ _,_ _apparently_ _,_ _and my original timeline is bleeding into my memories. Now I’m in one of the most amazing ships in all creation that is disguised as a blue police box. My parents are three doors down. Or maybe halls. The TARDIS can’t make up her mind. And I might kind of sort of but not quite sure be in a relationship with my husband from said alternate timeline. And I still have a thesis to write, my editor is calling with fixes to my manuscript, and eventually I need to file my taxes._

_They really haven’t invented a Facebook status for this._

\-----

Melody _loved_ the library.

She knew this was her sacred place as soon as the Doctor had shown it to her when she first stepped on the TARDIS. She wondered if it was possible to have a torrid affair with a room. 

“I still can’t believe all the books,” she murmured, tracing her fingers along the spines of the closest shelf. She spun to the Doctor, who was watching with her particular delight. “Is there an entire planet of books like this?”

Pain flashed in his eyes, and he went pale. “It’s not worth seeing, nothing as grand as this room.”

“But, there _is_ a library planet?”

“And there is an ice cream sundae planet, an amusement park planet, a pleasure planet you … er River was quite fond of. Really, Melody Pond, there’s a planet for almost anything you can desire.”

Three, Melody added to her mental tally as the Doctor wandered to one of the shelves to fiddle with a set of books. Three times since she got out of bed several hours earlier that the Doctor had referred to River. It was an improvement over the previous day, when he kept babbling about River when he wasn’t fretting over her parents. The Doctor was just as aware of it as she, making sure to place extra emphasis on her name when he made the faux pas.

“Could we go there some time? To the library planet?” Melody asked.

“Can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

The Doctor pulled out a book, and Melody was intrigued to see it was actually a bottle. “Liquid books,” he explained, neatly deflecting her question. He placed the bottle on a table. “ _Encyclopedia Gallifreya_ to be exact. Knowledge in liquid form.”

“How does it work?” Melody placed her bag on the table and picked up the bottle. “Is it like a pensive in _Harry Potter_?”

“Very nearly, but far more elegant. What is something you want to know about?”

“Anything?”

“About Time Lords or Gallifrey.”

Melody turned the bottle in her hands and considered. “I really don’t know all that much to be honest. The TARDIS said I was her child. I know you have this ship, that you can travel through time and space. I know bits and pieces that have leaked through the other timeline. But there’s a difference between knowing and properly understanding.”

The Doctor giggled a bit, and Melody grinned in response. She never imagined a man giggling before, but he did it around her. She thought it incredibly adorable. “And this is why you are brilliant,” he said. “We’ll start off small. Each bottle is a letter of the alphabet. Uncork it and think of the concept you want to know more about. This is the ‘F’ volume, so think of flutterwings.”

Melody uncorked the bottle. I’d like to learn about flutterwings, she thought and watches as the mist rose from the bottle and floated around her head. Knowledge poured into her as if she was drinking water. She could see the butterfly-like creatures and heard the smooth voice of a woman as she described the flutterwing’s life cycle. Before her, the flutterwing folded down to a cocoon and went through the stages of its life cycle. As the mature flutterwing flew away to its impending death, the library came back into focus.

The Doctor was sitting at the table, absently flipping through Melody’s books. “Oh, you’re finished! How was it?”

“Exhausting.” Melody placed the stopper back in the bottle and sank into the seat opposite his.

“You’ll get used to it. You were in there for approximately 16 minutes.”

“Sixteen minutes?”

“And some spare seconds, want to know the exact amount?”

“No, thanks, I believe you.”

“Old friend of mine did that entry. Romana. She studied their life cycle when she was at the Time Lord Academy.” The Doctor tossed the book on the table.

“Doctor, just how much of me is a Time Lord?”

He picked up one of her biros and began fiddling with it. “Not quite sure. See, in the original timeline, your DNA mutated because you were conceived in the vortex. Not long after that, your mother was kidnapped, and you were experimented on to enhance those abilities.” He accidentally snapped the biro in half, and ink splattered everywhere. “Now, I love a good mystery me, but everything I remember before the asylum is from the original timeline.”

“Even the times you encountered River?”

“Yes. There is a second timeline, but I can’t see it.”

Intrigued, Melody leaned forward. “Why not?”

The Doctor didn’t reply. He merely tossed the pen halves aside and leaped to his feet. “How about some tea? I’ll take you to my favorite tea shop on Vraxos. A bit dodgy, and you might want to carry a bayonet, but if you win the locals’ favor, it’s really a nice cuppa.”

“That’s not answering my question,” Melody called after him as he sailed out of the library. She raced after him, just barely managing to duck around him and block off his way into the console room. “Is this what you do? Run away when someone asks you something you don’t like?”

“You know me very well after all, Melody Pond.”

“Right. Then, I’m not letting you past me until you answer. I have ways.”

He arched his eyebrows. “What ways?”

Melody suddenly grabbed him and tugged him into her, sweeping a foot beneath his leg to throw him off balance and throw him to the ground. She placed foot on his chest. “Black belt in judo. Want to see another one?”

The Doctor swallowed and hastily covered the front of his trousers as he got his breath back. And Melody had the sudden urge to handcuff him to the nearest immobile object and methodically seduce him until they were both begging for release.  

“Am I interrupting something?” 

“No!” The Doctor and Melody yelped at the same time, then glanced up to see Rory hovering just inside the console room, giving them an amused look. 

Melody immediately scrambled backwards. “It’s not what you think it is!”

The Doctor gained his feet and ran his hand through his hair, blushing. “Amy! How’s Amy,” he babbled, looping an arm around Rory’s shoulders and guiding him back into the console room. Melody took a deep, steadying breath and willed her hormones to settle. She pushed her hands through her hair, scooping back her curls as much as possible as she followed them.

“Still the same,” Rory said. “Not good.” His eyes held sympathy as he smiled wanly at Melody. “Sorry.”

“It’s nothing,” Melody lied and knew that both men saw it for what it was. 

\-----

_“It’s me, Melody. I’m your daughter.”_

_No one said anything as the words hung in the air. Melody worried her lip and decided to step forward first. She’d grown up without her parents, but she was always surrounded by love, so she opened her arms and stepped toward her mother._

_“Stay away from me!” Amy yelled and Melody froze._

_Like a wild animal caught in a trap, Amy’s gaze flickered around the console room. “This is a joke. This is a serious joke? This woman can’t be our daughter.”_

_“Amy,” the Doctor started toward her, but she whirled away from him and into Rory’s arms._

_“Get me out of here,” she ordered him. “Now.”_

_“Amy, we’re in the middle of the vortex.”_

_“Then take me home! To my real baby, not this person.” Amy lifted her head, and tears shone in her eyes. “You took me away from my daughter once. Not again. I don’t care what you have to undo this time, just take me back to my little girl.”_

_“It’s not my place …”_

_“Oh, it’s always been your place.” Amy hurled the bitter-cold words with the accuracy of sharpened knifes against an immobile target. “You did this the last time too. You went with what she wanted, not what I needed. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”_

_“Amy …”_

_Amy ignored him and stormed up the stairs and out of the console room, leaving Rory, Melody, and the Doctor._

_“Well,” Melody said in a shuddering voice, “I think that went quite well, all things considered.”_

_Rory let out a sarcastic laugh, then shook his head. He gestured at the stairs. “I should just … go. She shouldn’t be alone.”_

_“Rory,” the Doctor said, but he was already following Amy, just as studiously ignoring the woman who claimed to be his daughter._

_Melody hugged herself and faced the time rotor, the bow tie still crumpled in her hands. She took several deep breaths and tried to compose herself. “Well, it’s not every day one’s parents rejects them.”_

_“Melody.”_

_“I’m OK, I’m OK. I just …” Melody waved her hands and looked for an exit that was in the opposite direction of her parents. “I just need a minute. Tea. I’ll make some tea. Lots of sugar in yours, right?” Her voice sped up as she spoke, control slipping from her like cascading grains of sand. “I’ll be right back.” She started to step around the Doctor, but he grabbed her arm and tugged her to him._

_It was the first time they hugged, something she didn’t appreciate until much later. Like she’d been doing it for years, she slipped her arms around his waist beneath his jacket and tucked her head beneath his chin. “If you keep hugging me, I’m going to cry.”_

_His hold on her tightened._

_She sobbed for a good seven minutes, thoroughly soaking his shirt. He didn’t say one word. When the storm passed, he grabbed her hand and informed her that he was going to show her all his favorite parts of the TARDIS, starting with the Cloister Room._

_At a much later point in her life, Melody Pond realized that was when she’d fallen in love with the Doctor on her very own._

_\------_

“I’m sorry,” Rory said as they shared tea in one of the TARDIS’ kitchens. “It’s all very confusing.”

“I can imagine so. You didn’t have an easy time of it in New York, did you?” Melody absently stirred her tea. 

“It wasn’t even that. We’ve been on our own longer, believe it or not. I remember waiting 2,000 years for her, but I don’t remember what happened after our wedding in what the Doctor calls your original timeline.”

“When I was River Song.”

“You were always Melody Pond. Williams,” Rory corrected.

“Melody Williams is a geography teacher,” Melody said.

“And Melody Pond?”

“Is a writer and a thesis away from becoming an archaeologist. Dad, I didn’t have a bad life growing up. Grandad and Grandma and Grandpa took care of me. I never wanted for anything. I’m even still in the house, yours and mum’s. Grandad moved in because he didn’t want me to leave the only place I was familiar with.”

“That’s Dad,” Rory acknowledged. He chuckled. “How is he?”

Melody froze, cup halfway to her mouth, her eyes wide. She hastily put the cup down.  He didn’t know. How could he? She wasn’t ready to have this conversation with him. She focused on the elaborate arrangement of fauna clustered in the window box of a false window and wondered how it managed to thrive with no sunlight. 

Rory didn’t say anything, and Melody tried not to cry. He closed his eyes, and a single tear slipped out. “Was it the cigarettes?” he finally asked.

Melody nodded quickly. “Never could give them up. Not even when I rounded up all the ones he had and flushed them down the toilet.”

Rory laughed a bit bitterly. “How much was the plumbing bill?”

“Give me credit. I did do it one at a time.” 

Rory met her eyes. “How long ago?” 

“About two and a half years. I’d just completed my undergraduate degree and was accepted into the Ph.D. program.” Melody swiped a hand over her eyes. “But now I’ve said it, and you can never go back, can you?”

“Maybe it’s better that way,” Rory admitted. “I’m not quite sure what he would do or say to all this. It’s going to be worse to explain it to Amy’s parents.”

“They never did understand my books, but they did like that I was getting my degree. Grandma always lamented about how Mum never went beyond high school. Blamed her friend.” Melody furrowed her brow as she navigated her way through that alternate timeline in her mind. She saw the face of Mels Zucker, flashes of the friendship she had with Amy and Rory. “Who was she anyhow? Just called her _that girl_.”

Rory laughed. “She was something else. But, Amy’s decision not to continue her education was her own. Liked history a lot, and she did fairly well, but she never really was interested in university. You seem to like it a lot. I remember when you began reading. Haven’t stopped, have you?”

“Not a chance.” 

Rory put his tea down. “I want you to know, Mels, I understand your decision.”

“Sorry?”

“Why you chose to keep your timeline intact.” He flicked a glance to the hall, toward the console room. “You and the Doctor. Somehow, I can see it.”

“I’m not sure what we are, Dad.”

“But, there’s something there.”

Melody cupped her tea. “He says I was married him in the other timeline. I can see it in my mind, and it comes through my dreams. My books, that’s where they come from. It was the only way I could handle River’s memories. The Doctor says that River is a part of me, but I’m not sure how comfortable I am with that. I don’t know if he keeps expecting me to just step into her life now that I know the truth. There’s parallels, of course, but I like being me.”

“I can remember it too. 2,000 years, waiting for Amy. Being the Last Centurion. But, not all the time. It’s like there’s a door in my head, and I can keep it shut. Every so often, whenever I need to, I can access it.” Rory reached for his daughter’s hands. “Melody, maybe you need to build a door in your mind. If you can do that, put those memories away, it’ll be easier.”

“How?”

“I looked up books on meditation. It was hard at first, but I managed to do it. I can help you with it.”

The breath whooshed out of Melody, and she placed a hand on her father’s arm. “Thanks, Dad.”

\-----

The Doctor watched on the monitor as Melody and Rory talked. He almost turned on the sound but was content to look at them. He absently trailed his finger over a lever. The guilt over what happened to the Ponds warred with his finding Melody, being with her. She wasn’t River, but she was. Like a different regeneration, but with the same face, same hearts, same spirit. Her core was the same, that he was sure of. He watched her enough in New York, and he could feel them slipping into those achingly familiar patterns as they bantered.

Melody Pond with all her regenerations was someone he could spend potentially the rest of his very long life with, and the fact that she wanted to travel with him meant that maybe he would no longer be alone after all. He giggled a bit, allowed the joy to overtake the guilt. His Melody. Still a mystery, and one he can figure out at his leisure.

There were still questions, things he couldn’t quite piece together. The Library, the Byzantium, the Pandorica. What had happened? How was everything still intact? He thought of Oswin Oswald, the woman trapped inside a Dalek shell, and something about her bugged him. 

“I can change it, you know.”

He glanced up and saw Amy sitting on the stairs, hugging her knees to her chest. She looked lost, far more lost than he’d ever seen her before. “Amy …”

“I can demand you take me back. Back to that day. I’d only miss a few hours. No one would ever know, would they? Rory would forget, and this woman wouldn’t exist.”

“This woman is your daughter, Amy.”

“Is she?” Amy blinked away tears. “It happened again, Doctor. I remember what happened the first time, and I could live with it because River was River. Then, suddenly, it all reset and I had a normal pregnancy. I got to hold my daughter, to see her take her first steps and hear her first words. I got more, and it wasn’t enough. Because this time, I was the one taken from her, and I had to miss everything. Again.”

The Doctor abandoned the console and sat next to Amy on the stairs. He sighed and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he finally said.

“But you’re not making it better. You didn’t make it better the first time either. Why?”

“Because it was her choice, Amy. It was always her choice.”

“I’m her mother!”

“And she is her own person. The very first time I ever met her, River begged me not to change one line of our time together. Melody asked me to do that now.”

Amy laughed bitterly. “And clearly you haven’t changed our lives against our wishes before.”

He flinched, remembering so many times he had done just that. To Donna. To Amy and Rory themselves. “I owe her that much,” he admitted, “to decide what she wants to do with her life.”

“You don’t owe this Melody anything,” Amy retorted. “You barely even know her.”

He knew that she was brilliant and resourceful. That she was still a child of the TARDIS. Human plus. She had two hearts and a lifetime of regenerations, that much he could see from the scans he’d covertly run on her. She was fiercely independent and wanted to maintain everything that she’d fought for. She loved and was loved. She had a black belt in judo and a passion for learning, and he could see the woman who’d stolen his hearts with in every breath she took and every word she spoke. 

“Melody Pond,” he told her, “will always be Melody Pond. And she will always be River Song. She is a Melody that grew up without being trained and tortured.”

“If I go back, it doesn’t change that.”

“It always could,” the Doctor said. “You know as well as anyone that time can be rewritten.”

“I missed out on so much.” Amy squeezed her eyes shut. “I knew it was her when she found us in New York, but I didn’t want to believe it. I lied to her, but I know River. And she looks so much like her. How is that possible?”

That part the Doctor wasn’t sure of himself. Little Melody Pond had wavy blonde hair though, it wasn’t entirely outside of the realm of possibility that she would grow up to look like River. Her third incarnation had far more in common with her first than her second did, and she had been with Amy and Rory in Berlin when she regenerated. There was no way to ever know, though, and he didn’t care to find out. 

\-----

As fascinating as the TARDIS was, Melody felt the cabin fever sinking into her bones. She spent a few days doing revisions to _The Impossible Astronaut_ , poking a bit at the draft of _A Good Man Goes to War_ , and taking advantage of the TARDIS library to get some research done for her thesis. She hadn’t seen much of the Doctor, and that was perfectly fine by her. Everything had happened at once: meeting him, her parents being restored her, agreeing to explore her relationship with him. She needed that space, and she was grateful to get it. She wasn’t sure how much of that distance was the Doctor understanding her from the past or the TARDIS herself.

She spent a lot of time with Rory exploring the arcade. She’d inherited his love of video games, another subtle difference from that original life. Then again, pixels on a television screen were vastly inferior to being your own space super heroine. Melody didn’t mind, as it gave her something in common with her father, something they could bond over. When she wasn’t studying or writing, she was playing _Super Mario Bros._ and various other games. Rory agreed that the ending of _Assassin’s Creed 3_ was really rubbish once they reached it, and they playfully bickered over who played Luigi in two-person _Mario_ games. 

Amy kept her distance, but Melody caught her watching them every so often. She still wasn’t quite sure what to do with her mother. Every so often, she brought her tea. Amy always accepted, but didn’t go out of her way to say anything else.

Rory reassured Melody that the problem wasn’t with her.

“Your mother’s always been like that,” he said as they played at a vintage _Pac-Man_ machine. “She’ll go out of her way not to tell you what she’s thinking.” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen her like this though. All those months in New York, that was her driving need, to get back to you.”

As the ghost made a meal out of her avatar, Melody let his words sink in.

“Well, of course that’s it,” the Doctor said when Melody relayed the conversation to him hours later. She perched on the jump seat while he moved around the console. “Amy’s a fighter. She’s always been a fighter. Think of all that time, trying to get back to her little girl. But, here you are, all grown up. You don’t need her any more, at least not in the way you needed her as a child. Plus, it’s not the first time it’s happened. It’s enough to break anyone.”

He sighed and leaned against the console. “It’s why we haven’t been able to land anywhere in the past week.”

“Sorry?”

“I don’t just drift in the vortex on a lark, Melody Pond. Not for this long. We’re here because Amy can’t decide which of her lives she wants. Amy’s choice, and not for the first time. Does she want the life she had before or the one she has now?”

“But, I thought when I made the decision to tell her that it kept the timeline intact. The one now.”

“It can. It does. Except …” He let his voice trail off, and he sighed, shoulders slumped. “The vortex manipulator.”

“What about it?”

“It’s missing.”

“How can it be missing, I left it on the console.” Melody slid off the chair and reached for it. Her hand brushed the empty space. “Doctor?”

“I have it,” Amy spoke quietly from the stairs, and Melody spun to see her mother with the device in her hands. “I have it, because I want … I need …”

“You’re not skilled enough to use it from the TARDIS,” the Doctor said. “But, if we land, you can use it. That’s why we haven’t landed. The Old Girl won’t let us.”

“I’m sorry,” Amy told Melody. “I want to go back to my little girl.”

“But I’m right here!”

“No, you’re not! You’re all grown up, and you’re fine, and you don’t need me anymore.”

“You’re wrong!” Tears welled, and Melody furiously dashed them away with the back of her hand before giving up. “I need my mother. I’ve always needed my mother. I never stopped searching for you, because I needed you so much. I never thought you died in an auto accident. Yes, I have Grandma, and I have Donna, but they’re not my mum.” An idea sprang to mind, and she spun to the Doctor. “I saw all those memories of my life as River when I was first on the TARDIS. Is there any way I can show her?”

“You saw those memories because of your link with the TARDIS. If you want to show Amy, she can help you.”

Melody scooted past the Doctor and laid her hand on the time rotor. “Please,” she murmured. “Help me.”

She felt the warmth of TARDIS through her fingertips, creeping up her arm until it flooded her body. She closed her eyes and tried focusing on that link, not quite sure what she was doing. A single, warm voice filled the back of her head, urging her to relax, to remember her past.

“Oh!” Amy breathed.

Melody opened her eyes to see gold tendrils linking her to the TARDIS. Beyond the tendrils, images played out near the door, like a fuzzy silent movie. “Really,” she murmured, “I can do better than that.” She focused, and the images became clearer and sound filled the console room.

——

_Well, that was quite rude. She’d been extremely warm and comfortable, just minding her own business, when her bed decided to unceremoniously dump her out. Now she was cold and wet and she really needed to let everyone know that, so she did so by screaming at the top of her lungs._

_“Oh look, she’s just like you, Amy.”_

_“Shut up, Rory!”_

_Arms surrounded her, and Melody nuzzled close. She wasn’t sure who it was, other than handy incubator, but she was warm and safe again. Mummy, she thought as she drifted to sleep._

\-----

_“Rory! Rory, look, she’s walking! Melody’s walking!”_

_“Actually, Melody’s running. Right toward the street!”_

_“Stop, Melody! Stop!”_

_——_

_“Come on, Melody. Call me ‘Dada.’ You’re so close._

_“Da … d … m … mmm … Mama.”_

_“Ha! I win, Rory Williams!”_

_——_

_“_ _Now, this is the Doctor. He’s a very old friend of Mummy and Dad’s. He’s going to watch over you a moment while I go look for your father. I don’t know what’s taken Rory so long, there’s a coffee cart just around the corner. I saw it when we walked in. Be good for him, Mels.”_

_——_

_“Your mother would be very proud of you today.” Tabetha mopped away tears as Melody turned in front of the mirror wearing her commencement robes and readjusted the flat clap over her curls. Tabetha shook her head and adjusted it back to the original position, which seemed awfully precarious. “Our little Melody, a university graduate. And going to be a proper doctor.”_

_“I wish she was here,” Melody whispered, a sentiment she’d repeated at every major milestone of her life._

_“She is. They both are.” Tabetha wrapped an arm around her granddaughter’s waist and nodded to the photos of Amy and Rory on the wall. “I see them every time I look at you, my dear, and that’s how I know they’re still with us. Now, your grandfather is waiting in the car, and if he honks one more time, I swear I am taking the keys from him. I don’t know why I let him buy that convertible in the first place._

——

“Did she?”

Lost in the swirl of memories, Melody noticed her mother for the first time. Her father had joined them, and their arms were around each other, the Doctor standing at Amy’s other side. They had watched her life play out: first day of school, first date, her Granddad’s death, meeting Donna, the publication of her first book and the successes of the later ones. All those milestones. “Did she?”

“My mum. She took the keys away from him, didn’t she?”

“As soon as we got back,” Melody said.

Amy stared at the vortex manipulator that she still held. “You had a good life.”

“The best,” Melody assured her. “I always loved you, and I always missed you. But, you’ve always been there for me, even when I couldn’t see you.”

Rory coughed. “Mels, you might want to break the connection now.”

“Why?” Melody turned her attention to the replay just as she saw the more recent memory of herself snogging the Doctor on the floor of the TARDIS, after he first used the vortex manipulator to bring her on-board the ship. “OK, OK, how do I stop this?”

She heard what sounded like gentle laughter in the back of her mind, and the memories faded. Suddenly exhausted, Melody sank onto the jump seat and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure what else she could do. She searched deep inside her and knew what she had to do. The right thing. She didn’t know if she could say the words, but she couldn’t leave her mother suffering like this. Her life would be rewritten, and it would be dangerous, but she would find him again. The Doctor and the TARDIS. She would always find them, that she was sure of.

There was a small thunk on the console, and Melody opened her eyes to see Amy putting the vortex manipulator back where she found it. She smiled at Melody. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I did skip the teenage years. Went straight from cute kid to adult. Probably cheating a bit, but you were three weeks late and had colic for months, young lady.”

Melody laughed, but it came out like a sob as Amy threw her arms around her daughter. 

——

Melody’s first proper TARDIS trip wasn’t anything extraordinary. It was to Tesco in 2008 to get milk since they’d ran out three days before. They stocked up on groceries and had dinner at a nearby restaurant, then retreated to the TARDIS so Amy and Rory could plan out their next move and Melody could work on her thesis. She had to check in with her supervisor, once she badgered the Doctor into getting her back to university. She also needed to touch base with Donna.

“I’m not sure how we’re going to explain this to my mother,” Amy said as she and Melody bid each other good night. “I’m not sure if it’s a kindness to go on letting her think I was dead or not.”

“I certainly didn’t think that about you,” Melody pointed out.

“That’s because you know what happened was beyond my control, and you have River’s timeline to help you understand, but she doesn’t. I don’t know if she ever could.” Amy shrugged. “What’s worse, having her believe I’m dead or her thinking I abandoned you?”

“But, you didn’t!”

“I know! All of us know that.” Amy patted her arm and went upstairs to talk with Rory.

“That’s not true, right?” Melody spun around to see the Doctor lingering at the console, studying data on the monitor. He didn’t reply, and Melody tried to ignore the churning in her gut. “You can properly see timelines. What happens?”

“Spoilers,” he murmured, and Melody grumbled. “Right, then. I’m going to bed. We can sort the rest of this family drama later.”

She stomped past him, and he reached out, snagging her arm. “Melody.”

“What?” she said rather crossly.

He tugged her back to him, into a hug she hadn’t realized how badly she needed until his arms were around her. She sighed and relaxed against him.  

“I’m going to teach you something, if you’ll let me. River knew it, in your original timeline, but it was a product of the genetic manipulation done to her by the Silence. The capacity is always within a Gallifreyan and is usually taught in the Academy as a matter of routine. After what you did with your parents today, it’s time you learned.” He cupped her cheeks, his thumb brushing soft skin as he took in the trust and the growing seeds of affection in those blue-green eyes of hers. “I want you to teach you how to explore my mind.”

All thoughts of going to bed vanished. Now, this was intriguing. “Telepathy?”

“Yes. Oh, not like what you lot have on TV, with telekinetics, Psi Corps, telepath wars and all that rubbish. It’s not used that often, and it later evolved to a sign of intimacy on a deeper level than physical or emotional. Your entire life is laid bare for the other person to see.” He swallowed, hands fluttering a bit as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. He went back to caressing her cheeks. “It’s usually part of the courtship between two Gallifreyans.”

Her hearts tripped, just a bit, and she caught her lip between her teeth for a moment as she let his words sink in. “Are we courting now, Doctor?”

He looked ready to bolt, the only thing anchoring him that repeated caress of her cheek. “If you’d like,” he said, his voice leaping a couple octaves at the end of the sentence. 

She gave him a tremulous smile. “Then, yes. Yes, I’d like to learn.”

“Great! Good! Excellent. Wonderful. Um … well …” He scratched his own cheek. “That is, if you don’t mind, because really we can wait a bit, and I don’t want to push you, and -”

“Doctor? Shut up.” Melody rose on her toes and instinctively pressed her forehead to the Doctor’s. He gasped a bit, then relaxed, pressing back into her as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

_What do I do?_

_You’re doing it._

It took her a moment to realize that she was thinking all this to the Doctor rather than saying it. _Well, isn’t this just wizard?_

 _You don’t know the half of it, my Melody._ He sighed and nuzzled her. _See? I can feel all that emotion coming from. All warm and happy and content. You like that._

 _It’s kind of hard not to like that when you’re being held like this_ , she teased gently. _I feel warm as well. Is it from me?_

 _No_ , he admitted. _It’s me._

She wanted to wrap herself in that emotion she couldn’t quite describe, but knew it was all the love he had for River Song … and her. Melody Pond. Melody who was and wasn’t River but was very much Melody. She felt her hearts skate close to a very dangerous edge of a cliff and wondered if this exercise would be the very thing that would tip them over. Oh, and what would she do then?

_Well, you really would fancy a snog, quite possibly a shag since it’s been ages, bloody university schedule. But it’s still a little too weird at the moment, especially with the parents around, but you’d settle for a nice hug and a mug of tea._

Oh, right, he could see everything she was thinking. _Stop that._

_If there’s something you don’t want me to see, just form a door in your mind and close it to me. I won’t be offended._

_There’s nothing in here to hide that you clearly haven’t surmised._ Melody sighed with resignation. _Since you clearly know what you’re doing, why don’t you show me what to do with you?_

_Oh, that can be taken so many different ways, future Dr. Pond._

_Yes, and in time, I plan to thoroughly explore that aspect of our relationship. For now, let’s just go through the basics. How do I explore your mind?_

_Just like you do any place, Melody. Look around you. Relax and let your mind drift._

She did. She took slow, even breaths, grateful for the grounding that yoga and judo taught her. As she did, shapes began to form around her. A library of sorts, an ancient building that had ceilings so high that she couldn’t begin to see them. Shelves marched in organized rows down the cavernous room, and she was quite surprised to find the Doctor’s mind was far more organized than she ever thought it would be.

_Oi!_

_Have you ever seen yourself? You give the word klutz an entirely new definition._

_You stop that right now, Melody Pond._

_Never._ She wandered to one of the shelves to inspect the books, surprised when she noticed that it wasn’t. They were bottles. Row after row of meticulously organized bottles, much like the ones in the library on the TARDIS, the encyclopedia that the Doctor has showed her. He’d been preparing her all along for this moment, and it warmed her hearts. These bottles were his memories, his knowledge. All his secrets, laid bare to her.

Her hand reached for one and hesitated. _Is it all right?_

_Yes, take that memory. It’s a good one._

She carefully removed the bottle from the shelf and uncapped it. The memory wafted out and spun around until she was standing in the middle of the console room of the TARDIS. But it was a different TARDIS, and the people in the middle she didn’t recognize. Big band music played as a man with close-cropped hair and a leather jacket danced with a young, blonde-haired woman wearing a Union Jack shirt. Staring at them indulgently was another man wearing a great overcoat.

 _My ninth self with Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness,_ the Doctor’s thoughts filled her head. _We had just saved everyone. Literally, everybody lived, including Jack. It was the first of many good days with the two of them together._

 _Did you love Rose?_ He was besotted, she could clearly see that.

_I cared for Rose as much as I could care for anyone at the time, which was a lot more than I thought I could. Time Lords can love, Melody, and deeply. I didn’t love her as much then as I would in the future. But, she is safe and happy with a version of me in another universe, and that’s the best ending possible I could have given her._

Confused, Melody allowed the memory to go back into the jar, and she selected another. This one featured an old man and a young woman, slipping down the hallways of an old building. _What is this?_

_That’s my first incarnation and my granddaughter, Susan. You’re watching us steal the TARDIS._

As the Doctor ushered Susan into a capsule, a brown-haired woman stepped out of the shadows. “Doctor?”

_Wait a minute. I don’t remember this._

Melody startled. _Sorry?_

“Yes?” the First Doctor said to the woman. “What do you want.”

“I’m sorry, but you’re about to make a huge mistake.”

_I don’t remember this!_

The woman leaned against the capsule next to her. “Don’t take that one, take this one. The navigation system’s a bit knackered, but you’ll have much more fun.”

The disconnection felt like someone had lobbed a pillowcase of bricks at Melody and made direct contact with her forehead. With a yelp, she slapped a hand to her head and staggered back from the Doctor as he backed away himself, grabbing hold of the console for support.

“Doctor, I’m not sure it’s supposed to work like that,” Melody groaned.

“That’s not possible,” he murmured.

“Sorry?”

“It’s just not possible!” he dashed around the console to the monitor and keyed up data. He jerked it into place just as Melody joined him, her confusion now edging into annoyance no thanks to the headache he’d given her. 

The data for Oswin Oswald displayed on screen, and Melody pursed her lips as she re-angled the monitor so she could read it better. “Oswin Oswald. I remember you talking about her. You said she was in the Dalek asylum, that she was the one who caused the timelines to be rewritten so I was never kidnapped as a baby. She looks like the woman in your memory.”

“Which isn’t possible,” the Doctor repeated. “Oswin Oswald was on a crashed space liner in the 47th century, trapped inside a Dalek. How could she be on Gallifrey when I was stealing the TARDIS for the first time?” He shoved the monitor away. 

“You said something earlier about not seeing some parts of a second timeline.”

“I thought it was Amy.” Lost in his own thoughts, the Doctor paced around the console. “I thought it was Amy and the fact that she was undecided about remaining in this future or using the vortex manipulator to return back to 2015, back to when you were 4. It would have rewritten the timelines again, like I told you about a few days ago. But, it’s not Amy.” He reached the monitor again and tapped his finger on Oswin’s image. “It’s her. It’s all her. The impossible girl.”

“So, what do we do?”

“We find her, of course!” 


End file.
